Flash On
by Yumi-chan-likes-chainsaws
Summary: She was the master of character development. And as it turned out, he wasn't quite so perfect after all...Kyoya X Renge


_*~*_**F l a s h** _O n**-*~***_

-x-

She could've married her beloved game character; both in fiction and in real life. In fact, she did, on several occasions. But why would she settle for someone who's not real when she could get somebody real who was absolutely the same!

She did understand his concerns about the personality end of it, but hey. Renge Houshakuji was a master at character development.

Because maybe Kyoya Ootori wasn't perfect after all...

-x-

"Kyoya-kun!"

Kyoya looked up from his laptop, unfazed at the unwelcome sight of the female managers nose pressed up against his own. He tipped his glasses, swatting her away like an annoying bug. "Hmm," he replied, "Its yourself, I see. What can I do for you?"

Renge's finger found its way to her chin, like always as she hastily replied- "I want you to accompany me on a walk to the rose garden," she beamed, "If you will, that is."

He closed the lid of his laptop with a sigh as he stood, leaving his notebooks on his little desk. "Well who am I to deny such a well spoken young lady anything," answered, smiling in mock cheer as he took her elbow and veered her out of the room.

Host club hadn't started yet, so he wasn't losing any customers.

"The roses are beautiful today," Renge simpered, frowning as Kyoya dropped her elbow to feel the petal of one.

"True, yes," he replied, his eyes brightening, though not noticeably, at the fabric feel of the petals between his thumb and forefinger, "After a brief mention of what I could do to Haruhi's debt, _him_ and Tamaki went out to pick some for the clubroom earlier," he beamed up at her, an award winning host club smile, "We pride ourselves in our botany, you know. Hmm?"

Kyoya stood, inspecting the rustle that had just occurred within the leaves of the rose bush. No sooner did he stand, but a small black and white cat poked its head out from between the branches. It looked around sharply, before trotting out nervously and sitting down in between the two high schoolers.

"Look, Kyoya-kun! A cat!" Renge exclaimed, kneeling down to coo at it.

"Ah," he said, looking down at the animal with a faint distaste, "Its probably escaped from somewhere. We should leave it be and let it find its own way back." He blinked as the ball of fur was thrust up in his face by the over zealous manager.

"Go on, Kyoya-kun! Pet it; look it likes you!" she exclaimed. The cat mewed pitifully as it was dropped into deaths arms.

"It'll like anyone then," came to cool reply, as Kyoya tried to give it back to her.

"You hold it!" Renge complained, pushing it away, "Its likes you!"

"If I must."

Renge watched, starry eyed, as the kitten licked Kyoya's cheek, him grumbling as he tried to swipe it away, just for the kitty to lick his hand instead. In a desperate attempt to save the moment, Renge's hand found its way into her pocket, where she pulled out a camera and quickly snapped a photo before going back to watch the scene.

"Kyoya-kun!" she laughed, "Lets go back to club now!"

"As you wish," Kyoya sighed, putting the cat back down on the ground, "Princess..."

-x-

"Kyoya-kun!"

"Hmm? Yes, Renge?"

"Why don't you like sweet things?"

"Why?"

"Because I made more cookies, and I wanted to see if these made any difference to your preferences!"

"Oh."

"Take one!"

"Fine."

"Are they too sweet?"

"There as sweet and nice as you, princess."

And with that, she wasn't sure if Kyoya was calling her sweet and nice, or saying that her cookies tasted awful. She hoped it was the former.

-x-

"Renge?" a voice said, in a slightly startled tone.

The otaku turned on her heel, her large eyes widening as she came face to face with the man she was convinced that she would marry some day. "Ah, Kyoya-kun!" she exclaimed, mentally cussing about the fact that she felt the sudden need to fix her hair and make herself look bride material.

"Hmm," he pondered, looking at the rose she held in her hands, "You really do like this garden, dont you?"

Renge nodded sharply, almost giving herself whiplash. "Of course," she chuckled, "The flowers are really beautiful here."

"Quite," came the cool reply. She sighed happily, watching in content as he kneeled down- she was possibly imagining that this was what he would look like proposing to her; we'll never know- at the flower beds and plucked a couple of roses carefully.

She gave a gasp. It was a beautiful moe worthy scene, that she would need to cherish forever. She took her portable camera and snapped a shot before shoving it back down into her hideous lemon dress's side pocket, praying he didn't hear the flash and demand the negatives.

He stood up, dusting of his knees and gave no sign of ever hearing the telltale click of the camera. He turned to her, and Renge's breath caught in her throat as he held out the bunch of roses to her, smiling host club wonderful. Her hands shook, itching to just grab them and put them in antifreeze so they'd never die.

She was just about to ask if he was giving them to her and take them away from him when he gave her the heartwarming-though faux- smile that made her heart melt. "Renge," he said politely, nudging her a bit with them as if motioning her to take them, "Would you mind taking these up to the club room for me? I really must get my accounts and laptop from my locker before club and I simply don't have the time, or two pairs of hands. I apologize if my request is a bother."

Renge's heart dropped like a rock as she took them miserably. "Uhm, no problem, Kyoya-kun," she replied pathetically. He was so very cruel, getting her hopes up like that. She was going to have to sort that out too. "I'll leave them around in the vases then?"

"Yes," he answered, fixing his glasses on his nose, "That would be most helpful."

She smiled a bit as he made like to walk away. But he swiveled his head to look out over his right shoulder to smile coolly at her, his eyes expressionless beneath the small frames of glass. "I thank you, Renge. You are a good manager after all."

And with that, Kyoya Ootori walked away curtly, leaving a young freshman in the rose garden, the wind blowing through her light brown hair, imagining what their children would look like when they exsisted some day in the far future...

-x-

"Renge," Kyoya deadpanned, finding the cuff of his jacket sleeve far more interesting than the shopping centre around them, "May I ask why we are here, again?"

Renge twirled around, the dress she had her father order in especially for the occasion fluttering in the self made wind as she turned. "Why, as the female manager of this club, I took it upon myself to help with the redecoration of the club!" she answered, smiling sweetly at the club.

"You shouldn't have," Kaoru said, exasperated.

"Really, you shouldn't," Hikaru continued.

"Well," she said haughtily, deciding to ignore the previous comments, "The fan girls are bound to get tired of your little rose theme the whole time. Its tiresome, and some people are allergic to your little flower assemble." She coughed for good measure.

"So, Renge," Kyoya replied, not meeting her eye, "What do you think would fix this little...problem of yours?"

"If we painted the walls yellow! A lovely summery yellow that made us feel like it was, well, _summer_!" she exclaimed happily, ignoring the other hosts when the all sweat dropped and attempted to make a get away, just for her butler to force them back again.

"Yeah, whatever," Hikaru grumbled, folding his arms and rolling his eyes in Kaoru's direction, making him chuckle.

"Well, I think its and absolutely splendid idea, princess," Tamaki gushed, wrapping an arm around Renge's shoulders. Renge looked up at Kyoya, hoping to see some sort of jealous expression, just to find he wasn't even looking. She then pushed Tamaki off.

"Phony prince, don't touch me," she retorted, shaking his arm off, causing him to retreat to a far corner of the supermarket.

"What I don't get," Kaoru started, tapping his chin lightly.

"Is why the hell we need to be here, if you have everything sorted out already," Hikaru finished, angrily.

"Well, because I wasn't going by myself, obviously," Renge flustered, forcing a smile on to her face. The truth was she had wanted Kyoya to come, but it would have looked suspicious if she had only invited him, and not the rest of the club.

"What, were you afraid?" Haruhi asked, genuinely interested.

"Yeah...kidnappers..."

Hikaru sneered. "Now I regret coming," he commented, getting an elbow from Kaoru for being inconsiderate.

"Renge?"

The host club turned around, startled at how Kyoya had magically turned up behind them, and with a bucket of paint and a mock cheery expression. "Sorry for running off like that," he said, "But is primrose yellow okay, princess?"

Renge snapped a picture.

-x-

"Renge?"

"Hmm," she replied, looking up at the glasses bearing senpai atop the ladder. He said it was apparently cheaper to do it themselves than hire someone to do it, but since Hunny wasn't tall enough, Haruhi had homeworks, Mori was busy and Tamaki and the twins were, well, unsuitable for the job, he was stuck with it himself, to his distaste.

"Why do you take pictures of me?"

Renge looked up in horror at Kyoya's frightening look. She had been super careful to not let anything slip; but he knew. He always knew. "W-what do you mean, Kyoya-kun?" she bluffed, flipping her hair nervously, "I don't understand."

"Why," he continued, his voice sounding furious although his face, scarily, held no emotion, "Do you take pictures of me? And not just in normal situations, like I do of the other hosts to sell. You take pictures of me when I am not acting like myself, or to make it seem like I am not acting like myself. Why is that?"

"W-what?" Renge stammered.

"Is it some attempt to blackmail me?" he asked angrily, "Because I will not stop short of running your business into the ground if you lay a finger on my reputation and-"

"Shut up!"

Kyoya blinked, his eyes growing wide behind his glasses. It was the first time anyone, let alone a fan girl, had ever spoken back to him in such a tone, especially when he was mad and she deserved it. "What did you just say to me?" he retorted.

"I told you to shut your mouth and listen to me!" Renge growled, her eyes aflame. Kyoya looked at her, shocked. "This is why I took those pictures! Because you're such an inconsiderate asshole that I thought it would be nice if you acted like a genuine person for a change instead of the personification of the devil!"

"I am not sure what you mean, Renge," he answered, bitterness creeping into his tone.

"You're cold to everyone!" she ranted on regardless, "And no one but Tamaki-baka had ever got through to you! I just wanted to help but you cant even see that for yourself because you're so Goddamn heartless! And furthermore-"

He pressed his lips against hers, shutting her up. Dragging himself away from her as she blushed, he said, simply-

"Why cant you just take me like the way I am?"

-x-

Renge Houshakuji could've bought the character, and she did on numerous occasions. But what good was a character, someone you couldn't feel, touch, taste or do anything but watch? It was pointless really, falling in love with someone who wasn't real, instead of someone who was.

Kyoya Ootori wasn't perfect after all. But he didn't need to be...

-x-

_**Yumi- long overdue! Apologies to silverarrow65, who requested this back in August!**_

_**Bob- And it pretty much sucks, and 2000 words less than what you'd hoped it would be.**_

_**Oko- meanie. Anyways, after this, we are on an indefinite vacation from writing!**_

_**Yumi- Meaning we will only update here and there, at least until October break. We apologize for any inconvienience, but we are trying to work on taking two stories of hiatus and a very long one-shot.**_

_**Oko- Apologies, and sayounara!**_


End file.
